Thugs

Socialist contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, Bernie Sanders, has returned to the campaign trail after a heart attack, and among his first public statements was an attack on the new Dem frontrunner, Liz Warren, He called her a ... wait for it ... "capitalist." (!!!!) Among the Democrat base, that epithet could sink Warren, even though she espouses pretty much every socialist policy that has been proposed by Sanders and many other Dem contenders. Anyway, the Dems have demonstrated that they are certainly good at name-calling, so we'll add "capitalist" to their long, long list of epithets.

I suspect that once a nominee is chosen, the Dems will make a weak attempt to tack to the center, telling the American people that labeling them as "socialists" is a "scare tactic," and they really aren't socialists at all. That's rich, given that every candidate proposes massive big government expansion, profligate spending, confiscatory taxation, erosion of free speech and other freedoms, and lots and lots of free stuff "for the most vulnerable" among us—paid for not by the rich (although the dems will tell you otherwise) but by working stiffs who don't have tax attorneys and financial advisors to help them avoid the Dem's taxes.

The Dems would very much like to make this election about Donald Trump, but I suspect it'll be more about the current economy and the Dem's attempt to wreck it with socialist programs dragged out of the 1930s. But socialism is more than just a wrecking ball for economic growth and individual prosperity. It's also a governance model that can lead to very bad things. In the extreme, history indicates that as socialism fails (and it always does fail), its leaders cling to power by enacting massive human right abuses. A case in point is Venezuela.

If you've been paying even a little attention, you know that socialist leaders Nichola Maduro and his mentor, Hugo Chavez, (both men were once lionized by many prominent Democrats and incredibly, are still defended by a few) have destroyed a once vibrant country. Shortages of everything, mass immigration fostered by economic despair and violence, a crippled health system, massive corruption, and human rights abuses.

And now, one of the Dems' favorite global organizations, the United Nations, is poised to name Venezuela to its U.N. Human Rights Council. Ex-UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, comments:

The Human Rights Council (HRC) is the United Nations’ greatest failure [and that is saying something]. Instead of protecting human rights, it has long protected the tyrants, dictators and strongmen who abuse them. That’s why the United States withdrew from the HRC last year.

China — which is building a surveillance state and conducting an ethnic cleansing campaign of Muslim minorities — is on the Human Rights Council. Saudi Arabia and Cuba also are members in good standing.

And now, as if to confirm the United States’ decision to leave, Venezuela is poised to become a member on Oct. 16. Thankfully, Costa Rica has mounted a last-minute challenge. But unless other countries support its bid, the HRC will continue to make a mockery of human rights.

The Maduro regime in Venezuela is among the world’s worst human-rights abusers. It has crushed the independent media and legislature. It jails and tortures political opponents by the thousands.

The criminal, socialist, narco-state has ruined its economy and refuses to allow humanitarian aid into the country. The Venezuelan people dig through trash cans and slaughter zoo animals to feed their families.

I’ve watched Venezuelan mothers and children walk three hours in the blazing sun across the bridge to Colombia to get the only meal they will eat that day. The average Venezuelan adult has lost 24 pounds because of massive poverty and food shortages.

And this is a government that the United Nations is considering adding to its Human Rights Council.

Yep. Might be a good idea to ask the Democrat candidates about all of that at their next "debate." Using revisionist history, they've been prepped to tell us that both Maduro and Chavez are now to be considered "thugs," not socialists. Sorta like the 'thugs" that have grown out of other socialist regimes (e.g., Cuba, Cambodia, the Soviet Union, China) of years past. Somehow, socialist leaders tend to morph into "thugs" — over and over again. I wonder why that is.